2016 Filled with Success on Playing Fields
It was another year of personal milestones and team championships throughout Berkshire County, and iBerkshires.com was lucky enough to capture some of it on our page.
Looking back on 2016, it is hard to say just what one story stood out above the rest or which was more significant than any other.
So rather than try, we’ll let the calendar decide, which seems only appropriate in this season when the calendar is very much on everyone’s mind.
Here, in chronological order, are some of the stories that stand out from the last 12 months.
1. Mounties Double Up
The Mount Greylock Regional Nordic ski program started the year in style by capturing the boys and girls team titles at the MIAA championships, held this year in Eastern Mass due to poor conditions at Notchview Reservation.
Senior Grace Smith led the Mounties’ girls program to victory and took the individual title to cap a career in which she dominated the Berkshire County Nordic circuit. Mount Greylock’s boys, meanwhile, continued their dominance of the state championships, winning a sixth straight commonwealth crown behind a third-place showing from senior Ian Culnane.
The victories capped an unusual winter that saw the county’s cross country teams chase skiable terrain wherever they could find it and schedule a couple of nighttime races at the bases of Berkshire East and Butternut ski areas.
2. Taconic Wrestlers Win Western Mass
The Taconic wrestling team followed up an unbeaten dual meet season in the county by winning a sectional championship at Southwick High School. Isiah Williams won an individual title for Taconic, which went on to give the local wrestling community a treat by hosting the state’s best Division 3 grapplers at the state championships.
That meet featured the final area appearance by longtime Mount Greylock coach Ray Miro in the Mounties’ corner.
3. Drury Bowlers Continue Dynasty
The Drury High School bowling team got a four-bagger in Auburn, where the Blue Devils won their fourth straight state bowling championship.
Zach Yeaton was named the event’s MVP for the third year in a row. He will go for No. 4 on a personal level and Drury will aim for No. 5 in March when the state tourney comes to the Devil’s home lanes at Greylock Bowl & Golf.
4. Hoosac Hoops Takes Two at Cage
For the second year in a row, basketball fans at Hoosac Valley High School had every reason to smile on championship day at Curry Hicks Cage in Amherst.
The Hoosac boys won their second straight Western Massachusetts championship with a thrilling, three-point win over Easthampton.
Hoosac’s girls won their fourth straight sectional crown by holding off a game Drury team in the title game. The Hurricanes then made a repeat appearance in the state championship game, where they led by three points in the second half before succumbing to the Eastern Mass representative for a third straight year.
5. Three Spring Season Western Mass Titles
Led by Division II-bound senior catcher Matt Schneider, the Wahconah baseball team earned a Division 3 Western Mass title with a dominating win over Frontier between the raindrops at the University of Massachusetts.
Wahconah won six straight games, including its four Western Mass contests, before falling to Groton-Dunstable in the state semi-finals.
The Lenox baseball team, meanwhile, got to play their sectional final a little closer to home, topping McCann Tech at Wahconah Park when their Western Mass final was rescheduled due to rain.
Like Wahconah, Lenox ran into a buzzsaw at the next level, but the complete-game win from pitcher Patrick Colvin gave the Millionaires their first sectional crown in 45 years.
On the tennis courts, the Mount Greylock boys successfully defended their Western Mass title.
6. National, Sectional Titles in Softball, Baseball
Berkshire-based teams shone brightly on the diamonds of summer as the Berkshire Force won the 16-and-under Babe Ruth Softball World Series, Pittsfield’s Babe Ruth Babe Ruth All-Stars went to the World Series, Post 68 competed in the American Legion New England Regional, Lanesborough’s Bulldogs won the Western Mass state title and Pittsfield Little League’s American League All-Stars came within a whisker of winning a state title to advance in the Williamsport tournament.
All in all, it was a testament to the quality of the youth programs and a promise that the county will continue its success in the spring high school campaigns for years to come.
7. Drury’s Soccer Resurgence
One year after going 2-13-3 and missing the Western Mass tournament altogether, the Drury High School boys soccer team went 13-0-2 to open the 2016 season, clinching a tourney berth before the end of September.
The Blue Devils went on to win the Berkshire South Division, pick up the first victory the program’s seniors have enjoyed over rival Hoosac Valley, earned the No. 6 seed in the Division 3 tournament and garnered the program’s first playoff win since 2009.
8. Continued Cross Country Dominance
The only thing more dominant than the Lenox girls cross country team, which won its second straight Western Mass Championship at Stanley Park in November, is the Mount Greylock boys cross country team, which brought home its seventh straight D2 title.
The twin Berkshire team dynasties were highlighted by the individual exploits of Lenox’s Emma Jourdain, who captured the individual title.
9. Taconic Football Seniors Fulfill Promise
After knocking on the door as juniors, the Taconic Class of 2017 kicked it down this fall by beating every Western Mass team it faced, culminating in a 36-24 win over Longmeadow.
The high school football season may seem long for most players, but Taconic’s road to the title was longer than most -- starting when the team’s 14 seniors arrived on campus.
“I mean, honestly, freshman year we told everyone we thought we were going to get here our senior year, but no one really believed us,” Taconic QB and captain Jake McNeice said. “Now, we’ve got fans behind us, and the whole team is really into it. It feels great.”
10. Wahconah Returns to Gillette Stadium
Berkshire County’s fall sports season ended on the biggest stage in New England sports, with the Wahconah football team vying for a state championship at Gillette Stadium.
Although Wahconah did not get the brass ring this time around, it did acquit itself well against the Eastern Mass champs from Mashpee -- leading in the second half and generally turning in a stronger effort than Western Mass teams have managed to date in state finals under the current tournament format.
Wahconah’s road to the final included a bit of impromptu extreme sportsmanship that, on its own, could have been the story of the year in Berkshire County high school sports: the the tunnel formed by Wahconah’s players after their Western Mass title game win to encourage rivals from Taconic headed to their sectional final. To date, video of that moment on the iBerkshires.com Facebook page has generated 17,000 views, more than 50 comments and more than 500 likes.